Blink and you’d miss the new sensation Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles on the front cover of Empire issue 12 from June 1990. Don’t be fooled – these masked speaking turtles were BIG news!

After 24 days on release in the US the film had reached the $100 million mark – not bad for creators Peter Laird and fast food chef Kevin Eastman who published their first strip on the back of a $1200 loan and tax return!

Batman had paved the way for the the Turtles movie release and in this issue of Empire there was plenty of comic action including a preview of Dick Tracy, 3 stars for Dolph Lundgren as the Punisher and an article on producers Peter Guber & Jon Peters, who made Batman possible.

30 years later and the pizza loving Donatello, Michaelangelo, Raphael and Leonardo are still merchandising sensations and going strong with two recent live action reboots.

Cowabunga and howdy doody dudes!